Chumby back from the grave?

[wkearney99]

http://www.chumby.com/
http://www.engadget.com/2014/07/02/chumby-service-relaunch
 

Remember Chumby? You probably haven't heard much about the snuggly tiny computer/smart alarm clock since its makers' company disbanded, but now it's back from its semi-retired state. Its current owner, Blue Octy LLC, just announced that it's relaunching Chumby's full service (it went offline in 2013), which comes with 1,000 apps and faster, more efficient performance. The device, for those who haven't heard of it before, first launched in mid-2000s, way before everyone has a smartphone to take the place of many other gadgets, and was meant as a high-tech alternative to the bedside clock radio. It's one of those things people used to call "internet-connected devices" and could display Facebook, Twitter and RSS feeds, even video streams.
Unfortunately, the device needs to connect to the Chumby network to function. So, when its original creator (Chumby Industries Inc.) went out of business last year, Blue Octy launched a limited service that lets owners use the device as an alarm clock and a music player, at least. This development gives them the power to make the gadget more useful, though it obviously won't be free. It'll cost $3 per month to restore Chumby to its former glory -- after all, the company needs money to keep the service running.

 

[wkearney99]

Just in time.  I decommissioned by Chumby screens just before we tore down the old house.  Now that the new one's built I may pull these relics out of their boxes and fire 'em up again.  I'm still in favor of passive information appliances like this.  It'll be interesting to see what their new setup might have to offer over the old one.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Good luck!  To me, this was just yet another reminder not to get an appliance that depends on the cloud to operate.  I guess I did violate that creed by getting the Ooma service for my phone, though other services are available if that fails.

 

[wkearney99]

Sure, I'm no fan of the 'death of a thousand cuts' borne from all these danged services.  Some stuff has merit, like Tivo, especially for it's high WAF.  But for the most part I try to avoid anything with a recurring fee structure.  But for underdog gizmos like this one I'm likely to be willing to shell out a bit... for a while, as a test.

 

[tmbrown97]

My two Chumby's are still functioning - one is an infocast and the other is a sony dash; they don't work great and have to be rebooted a lot, but they both will boot up and play pandora still which is all they're used for in my kids' rooms.
 
Would be very happy to see them gain new functionality, but I'm done adding more subscriptions.
 
Edit - important note - they say on their site it's $3/month no matter how many devices you have - that's key.

 

[damage]

i've been using the offline hacks to run our infocasts ever since the service went offline  (instead of downloading apps from chumby they download them from my web server). all i run is my own chumby app anyway.  

 

[pete_c]

Here still have a few which haven't been used in a while. 
 
It was Damage that got me started with the Chumby's a while ago.  Thank you Damage!
 
Here I replaced the little micro SD's with custom stuff ch rooting them to a bit more functions using Linux. 
 
For a while did run Homeseer  HSTouch via RDP on them while chatting to a WIntel terminal server; worked fine. 
 
A Homeseer user did also write a cloud based Homeseer touch interface which worked well (being in the cloud and all).
 
They did became the ultimate bedside clock radio (on steroids) and they looked really nice.
 
I did give two of them to two friends with offices and they are being utilized still today for the background music in the offices. 
 
I wonder if they are off though now relating to the monthly charges; they haven't called me about disfunctioning Chumby's.